Wednesday, April 20, 2011

All templed out

I woke up at 4:30am today to go see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Our hotel was nice enough to pack us breakfast to go so that we could eat it at the temples. So we hired a tuk tuk driver for the day. He showed up at our hotel at 5:00am to pick us up. He drives us to the temples we want to see and waits at pre-arranged spot so that he's there when we finish seeing the temples.

Susan and I on the tuk tuk.


The sunrise at Angkor Wat was beautiful. We found a spot to sit and watch the sunrise while we ate breakfast. The moon was still visible behind us while the sky was turning pink from the rising sun in front of us.


Took a stroll through the Angkor Wat ruins:


Next we saw Ankor Thom
There was the Bayon:


Baphuon:




Phimeanakas:


Terrace of the Leper King:


Terrace of the Elephants: We didn't even know we were here (it's one of the places I wanted to see). I thought the elephants looked like people peering over the wall with their bums facing me, but then I was wait what are those 2 things sticking out on the sides? Finally realized they were elephants.


Then we went to Preah Khan and hiked through the jungle area to see a old buddist monastary.


Next we saw Thommanom and Ta Nei.



There are a lot of kids trying to sell stuff to us when we're at these places. And this little Cambodian girl was playing on the stones.


Next we went to Ta Keo.


This one was pretty awesome. Look at how steep those stairs were and so narrow! Crazy! But we made it to the top and back down (the harder part).


Saw Chau Say Thevada and then went to Ta Prohm.



After Ta Prohm we saw Pre Rup which had awesome views of the Cambodian countryside.




Next we went to Banteay Kdei and Sras Srang. Then to Prasat Kravan. After these temples we went back to our hotel for an hour and a half to shower and rest a bit before heading out at 4:30pm to see the sunset from the top of the temple Phnom Bakheng.


The day ended at 6:30pm at our hotel. Paid the tuk tuk driver for bringing us around for the day and had some hotel food. It was actually really good. Tomorrow will be a day to relax. Can't wait to sleep in a bit.